By The Time You Hear This I’ll Be Gone

My back is killing me. You don’t realize how much stress you’re holding until you go camping and sleep on an air mattress for two nights. The thing is, I’m not one of those, “my back is killing me because I slept on an air mattress” types. I know I did it to myself.

I was 18 when it happened. 14 years since I blew out my back. It might have been those hernia surgeries weakening my abdominal wall. It might have been all those sit-ups in Kung-Fu class while neglecting the back muscles. But now it’s just mostly stress. Funny thing, multiple burpees help. It’s the plank position along with the jumping and loosening of the hips and back that seem to do the trick.

I know, I know…burpees while my back is hurting? What am I thinking? While the pain and discomfort is no fun, it’s a time to reflect and find creative ways to flex other muscles. So I’ll kick back, listen to some Alan Watts wax poetic on the meaning of life, read about how 24-hour fasting is good for me and do 10 burpees at a time throughout the day. In a couple of days, I’ll feel right as rain.

One love,

CTK

** Thank you once again to CTK for stopping over this afternoon. To read more resplendent words from CTK … **

Aww… that stinks. Go easy with the back. My husband has back issues once in a while and yes, stress brings on the pain for sure. He uses an inversion table and swears by it. I haven’t been able to get into it as I’m too tense to relax while hanging upside down. I think I’ll look up how to do burpees and see if I can get somewhere with them. What’s your thoughts on inversion aids? Good or bad for the back?

I’m practice Traditional Chinese Medicine/Acupuncture for a living and I do wish that I could needle my back a bit better but it’s behind me for Pete’s sake! Inversion tables? My motto: if it works (like burpees!), keep doing it.

I love me some burpees too. My chiropractor was the first to tell me that when my back was bothering me, even though it seemed like the best solution to rest it and stretch it, strength training is what it needed. You know what you’re doing .. I can tell by your description as to what caused the pain to begin with. Hope you’re feeling better soon and I’ll do a couple sets of burpees today just for the fun of it. Thanks for the motivation.🙂

I’ve had back problems of one sort or another since I was 18 years old – 24 years now. I’ve come across core exercises. Imagine that! You’ve mentioned how stress can bring on back problems…so when you’ve got back problems…you’ve got a core problem, i.e. in your mind something is stressing you out for some time. Doing one type of core exercise has helped lessen the back stiffness in the mornings. Yeah, I don’t want to even know for sure if I have an osteo situation. I just want to do little by little the stretching and core exercises until I’m comfortable doing them. Then I’ll do more.

Sorry to hear that you’ve got back problems, too. Good luck with what you’re trying. I hope it helps lessen the pain.

I teach pilates and started having issues with my hamstring related to my low spine…. turns out there is such a thing as too much flexion! Goblet Squats have really helped me to counter the flexion and strengthen my back while stretching out my hamstrings- just figured I’d pass that along!

So because of all you Culfitters (no love for the anti-mattress folks!), I got off my ass yesterday, did some burpees, Yoga stretches, light deadlifts, Supermans on a Swiss ball, leg raises and stretched out my hams, quads and illiopsoas and today is a new day!